What do you do when all your UAV and other "eye in the sky" assets are too busy to provide support for a training exercise (or are too much of an "operational and administrative burden")? You can contract out UAV coverage -
this from the MERX posting:
.... It is the objective of the Department of National Defence (DND), Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre (CMTC) at Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE 1101(EX MR 1101) at Canadian Forces Base/Area Support Unit Wainwright (CFB/ASU Wrx), in Alberta, Canada, to simulate the collection of intelligence by a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for training purposes to be applied to real manoeuvres in an active theatre of operations. CMTC requires a contractor to provide Surrogate UAV Services. The use of contracted Surrogate UAVs would mitigate the operational and administrative burden associated with these assets and ensure the necessary tactical flexibility demanded of UAVs operating in the Contemporary Operating Environment (COE) ....
This from the attached Statement of Work:
.... CMTC will prepare soldiers to operate, survive, fight and win in the COE across the full spectrum of operations in a complex, non-linear battlespace. Maple Resolve serials lack sufficient UAV support. The assets which are tasked lack the required tactical flexibility necessary to effectively support the Primary Training Audience (PTA). In order to duplicate the COE during EX MR serials, CMTC has employed the Small UAV (SUAV) Scan Eagle from the 4th Air Defence Regiment (4 AD), the CP-140 Aurora Maritime Patrol Aircraft and, until recently, a medium UAV, the Heron, from the Air Force (AF). These assets are in high demand throughout the CF and impose a significant operational and administrative burden during EX MR 1101 ....
Wanted: someone to
provide dog sledding services to British troops needing adventure training at Suffield - more in attached Statement of Work.